21 Pilots Concert @ Wells Fargo

Tyler and Josh of 21Pilots are a well oiled, morphing machine. Tyler literally jumped in hole in the stage and morphed to the upper level. I swear the guy with the mask on the stage was him before he jumped in the portal. Even with all the gimmicks, like asking each side of the audience to hold up their flash light during a part of Mulberry St (it was quite a cool effect). Or bringing a little Mexican kid upstage to sing the chorus to Ride. Or bringing up a sound technician to do warrior sprints because he lost his lanyard at the last show. Or even having the drumming mute one (Josh) sing a few lines to a song. Even without all that, they still kicked serious ass, and I’ll break down a few of my observations.

I’ve been a 21 P fan since Vessel. I’d hardly call myself their biggest fan, and believe me I saw their big fans who tend to be 15-21, but I cut my lip on their music. To see them in concert, and how they’ve evolved into this incredible performance, is a story. Do you know about their lore? That last question invites you to enter the 21 Pilots world of who is BlurryFace, where does Clancey come from, what is going on with the burning cities, and why are they carrying tiki torches in a ritual? I have no idea nor do I care. I don’t find that part of their music enticing, essentially the stories to their albums, to make me a die hard. Yet, I know what makes a good show and they do it.

Fuck Hyundai.

The #1 advantage the Pilots have is their music is incredible. The lyrics are thoughtful. The beats bring you in and the hooks hook. Feeling their music is how you know you’re having a good time. All the razzmatazz surrounding the show adds to the music. Their costumes aren’t overly outrageous which makes you feel like they’re normal guys. I enjoyed how they moved from album to album during the show to keep all fans interested. They weren’t only playing their new stuff. Plus, they looked like they were having fun doing it which has to be nearly impossible playing as many shows as they do.

I was looking at ticket prices and the upper levels are about $100, the pit was $300, and I was in a box which who knows what that bad boy costs. So we’ll say 20k seats x $200 average ticket price = 4 milly a show. It probably costs 250k to produce and run it, another 500k to the arena staff, TicketMaster takes their cut, and they probably get 2 million to split between their management and staff. If someone said you’d make a million (there are two of them) for 2 hours of work, you may be ok doing the same routine night after night. I’m probably way off on my numbers, but it’s only to give the idea that these guys do the same show and I have to ask, “how do you stay motivated through it?” Please refer to my math again.

I’d like to give a big Thank You to Evan for inviting me to the show. It was an awesome time and I’m glad I got to see them again, because you never know when they might hang it up. I’ve gone back and listened to their first album to get myself acquainted, and even listened to Scaled and Icy which barely has a good song on it. I rarely find myself changing the song and find myself in a good mood.

My Top 10

1. Ode to Sleep
2. Car Radio
3. Fake You Out
4. Trees
5. We Don’t Believe What’s on TV
6. Hometown
7. My Blood
8. The Hype
9. Mulberry St.
10. Midwest Indigo